Certain dragonfly species undertake remarkable multi-generational migrations spanning thousands of kilometers. Their welfare depends on wetland connectivity and the health of freshwater ecosystems along their migration routes.
Migratory dragonfly welfare sits at the frontier of extending moral consideration to insects — a scientifically contested but increasingly engaged domain of animal ethics. Globe skimmer migration represents one of the most extraordinary behavioral phenomena in the insect world: a migration system that spans oceans and continents, requires multiple generations to complete, and tracks dynamic monsoon rainfall across multiple countries. Whether individual dragonflies experience their migration in a welfare-relevant way remains genuinely uncertain, but the ecological welfare argument for their conservation is clear: dragonflies provide mosquito control services that directly benefit human and animal health, and their dependence on wetland networks creates a conservation alignment between dragonfly and wetland welfare that encompasses fish, amphibians, waterfowl, and all other wetland-dependent species. Wetland conservation programs that maintain the connected network of temporary and permanent water bodies that migratory dragonflies require simultaneously protect the ecological welfare of thousands of species across the freshwater food web. The uncertainty about individual dragonfly experience does not diminish the case for their conservation — it simply locates the welfare argument primarily at the ecosystem level rather than the individual level.